“Writers can write anything they want. I’m attracted to stories about healing and our ability to heal ourselves, especially by stepping outside of victimhood or self-empowerment stories for teenagers,” said screenwriter Kristin Hahn. “I don’t worry about being typecast by others. I typecast myself on purpose because not enough female empowerment stories are being made.”
Hahn was infatuated with the story behind Dumplin’ which was a novel written by Julie Murphy. In the story, Willowdean, a.k.a. Dumplin’, is the plus size teenage daughter of a former beauty queen. In the story, she signs up for her mom’s Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant in a Texas small town.
Hahn was interested in the main character’s combination of confidence and insecurity. “At the time I read this book, there were so few representations of young women that were plus size in the mainstream media. I fell in love with Willowdean as a character and I felt passionate about telling her story to young people.”
In the new Netflix movie, Danielle MacDonald stars as Willowdean and Jennifer Aniston stars as Rosie, her mother. “I love that the book and the film also tell the story about girls having judgments about each other and ultimately seeing past those judgments to see there are these beautiful friendships waiting to be had.”
Danielle McDonald & Jennifer Aniston
As a screenwriter, Hahn wanted to create something for girls that discussed friendship in a different way than Mean Girls. “I personally have incredible female friendships that I’ve been lucky enough to have since my last teens. I really don’t know what kind of person I would have become without them.”
The screenwriter had never entered a beauty pageant, but she did relate to Willowdean as an only child. “I was raised as a single child by a single working mom, who reminded me a lot of Rosie. There is an interesting generational reality that I thought the book captured well.”
Hahn said that women of Rosie’s generation seemed to be confined by other people’s opinion of them. As such, they lived to become perfectionists driven by fear. Hahn felt her mother lived within this unusual sense of suburban survival. “As the daughters of that generation, we got to see that and make a different choice.”
Through this mindset, Hahn saw Rosie in a different light, which she was able to portray to the audience. “I have compassion for Rosie and I really wanted to give her character layers to help the audience understand her perfectionism and her negative views of her daughter were really just coming from her internal fear.”
Characters In Real Life
While doing research for the film, the screenwriter happened to meet some Teenage Beauty Queens while at a film festival in the South. “They had won for their state. I met them and asked them questions about the pageants. Miss Teen Arkansas became my go-to person. She was so smart and this bright young woman.”
“I just grilled her and I was honest about my judgments. I asked her why young women would prance around in a bathing suit and told her I didn’t get it. She really helped me understand that the pageant experience could be a really profound right of passage for self-empowerment. She actually had a feminist point-of-view about it and that really helped me see it a different way.”
The muse then informed Hahn that she viewed the pageants as a way to attend college because she actually won scholarships from each event. “She was really passionate about public service. When she won Miss Arkansas, she got to spend a year doing public service as Miss Arkansas, which was life-changing for her.”
“There’s a line in the movie where Rosie says, ‘Pageants are harder than you think.’ They actually are! I came to respect them and I realized we can’t assume why people are doing pageants or that there is some system out of place. I love that the girls in the movie do the pageant in their own terms.”
She concluded, “My hope is that girls will see the movie and do pageants in their own times. Everyone can be invited to that party and invite themselves. We want to have fun in the pageant world, but not make fun of it.”
As a writer originally from both the Southwest and Midwest, Hahn describes herself as someone infatuated with human nature. “I stay connected to both the Midwest people and the Southwest. There’s a beautiful, hard-to-put-into-words aspect that comes from New Mexico. There’s something in the air that permeated my childhood.”
Hahn said that it’s easy to lose touch with the real world while living in New York or Los Angeles, so she tries to stay connected with “Middle America.” As such, she ultimately believes that storytelling can bring everyone together and open minds and hearts. This is where her passion to write comes from.
“The stories that are really standing out and the sophistication of viewers at this point are begging for new types of stories. They want archetypal characters, but in new situations. The new blends are really important. If I laugh and cry out loud, I know it’s going to work on the screen.”
Adapting Characters
“I’ve done four adaptations now. The characters in novel form are so internalized because we have the benefit of being inside their heads. In screenwriting, you have to externalize all of those feelings and thoughts. They are this under-the-covers feeling in the book, but we have to bring them out and turn them into action, dialogue, or interaction with other characters.”
The screenwriter described the adaptation as a “sleight of hand.” Like a magic trick, she had to figure out how to display emotion outside the mind. In addition to thoughts and emotions, there’s also a different structure on the screen. Novels don’t require a three-act structure with progression, after all.
“With Dumplin’ we had to figure out everyone’s motivation to be in the pageant while building the three-act structure,” said the writer. “I love that Willowdean decided to do the pageant, not because she wanted to win, but because she wanted to prove to herself that she can do it. It’s kind of an act of self-love. Can I love myself enough to stand on this stage?”
Dumplin’ Cast
Through this adaption process, Hahn and company were able to find an amazing cast for the film. “Jennifer has been one of my closest friends since I was a teenager. We’ve been on this storytelling road together in all kinds of different ways. When I finished the screenplay, I gave it to Jennifer as a friend to give me notes.”
Aniston read the script and asked if she could play Rosie in the film. “I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t assume she would want to play in the movie because it’s Willowdean’s movie. For her to play Rosie meant she was very consciously supporting the movie being made that was not going to be a starring vehicle.”
“I was so moved by this huge act of support. For me and for her, this was an important act to get this movie made for girls, because girls need this movie and this type of self-empowerment for girls. So Rosie became Rosie from the book, parts of my mom and parts of Jennifer’s mom as well. It’s an homage to moms.”
Aniston and Hahn thought back about that generation of women her mother belonged to, which wouldn’t even go out for gas or stop by the store unless they were fully dressed and had their makeup on. “There was a mountain of societal pressure to be gorgeous at all times. We had moms who probably slept in hair and makeup when they got married because they were in constant fear of not looking perfect.”
Hahn said Aniston wanted to step into this character, but then find a way to liberate this character. “When we were teenagers, we were frustrated with that, but now we have a lot of compassion for our moms.”
Producing Stories
As a screenwriter-producer, Hahn advises that up-and-coming screenwriters wear multiple hats as they find their way into the business. She started by making documentaries and writing nonfiction books. A book agent encouraged her to write and she soon found out she had a lot more to say.
For ten years, she worked as a coach on the sidelines, then encouraged other screenwriters as a producer. “Then, I hit a point where I felt like I was dying on the vine. I need to write. I was getting depressed not writing.” She told her production partner Aniston that she wanted to go back to writing.
She decided that they should only be producing the films they really wanted to make, rather than making bigger films on a schedule. She minimalized her producing duties so she could spend more time writing. “You’re using two different sides of your brains for these jobs. One is collaborative and one is incredibly isolating.”
Hahn joked that writing can make you a little crazy. “I’m so internal during those times, but I’ve found that transitioning between writing and producing has given me an uncommon access to be able to produce my own work. It does require a very healthy relationship with your own ego.”
Since screenwriters serve the story and producers serve the movie from a business perspective, there must be objectivity in mind. “I always partner with another producer on anything I write so I know that they know when to bring in someone else or replace me to serve the story. It has to be what’s best for the movie. I do recommend producing and writing together if you can manage it.”
In terms of other advice to screenwriters, Hahn tells novice writers to simply write great scripts. “I believe that no one can stop a great script. If you write something that deeply resonates, no one can stop you from getting it made. Sometimes that takes ten years to get a movie made.”
“Storytellers have to find the stories they were born to tell and they have to hang on like a roller coaster life. It’s like training to go to the moon. Some people give up, but you can’t. This business is interesting because you have to be sensitive and empathic to write, but then you have to be incredibly resilient to get the movie made. It’s interesting to be a sensitive person in an insensitive business.”
